Current Events > Wait, Contra came out before Predator?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Predator was 1987.
Contra (arcade) was 1986.

The cover of the NES game copies two publicity photos of Arnold Schwarzenegger from Predator, but the arcade game upon which it's based came out before Predator. It's kind of an oddly specific thing though to have two intellectual properties featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger (or his unlicensed likeness) battling aliens in a South American jungle.

I guess the programmers were never fans of Predator the way they were the Alien and Terminator series. While xenomorphs and facehungers from Alien appear throughout the first game and its sequels, and Terminator exoskeletons appear in the third game, there really aren't any notable enemies that resemble the yautja from Predator. I do think they maybe should've redesigned the football player boss to have Predator mandibles, but that's just me.

The Contra ports using the Schwarzenegger-esque box art didn't start coming out until 1988. The games have always featured impossibly ripped commandos, but the original version didn't use his likeness.
---